Category: Arts

Hometown Holiday activities begin this weekend in downtown Pottstown

Local arts and historic organizations and businesses, along with the Pottstown Downtown Improvement Distric Authority, otherwise known as PDIDA (puh-dee-da), iarebringing a host of Hometown Holiday events to downtown Pottstown on the weekends leading up to Christmas.

Events kick off this Saturday, Dec. 1st when Santa and his elves arrive at 5 p.m., making a healthy, heart-warming entrance at High and Evans Street, before heading down High Street to Smith Plaza for the lighting of the Christmas tree there. Smith Plaza itself will be all lit up, too!

At the Plaza, visitors can enjoy holiday music, free trolley rides from 4:40 to 8 p.m., and horse-drawn wagon rides from 5 to 7 p.m., for just $10.

Santa’s Village will be open with Santa himself, kids’ crafts, reindeer food making, and a coloring contest at Tango Marketing, 139 E. High Street, just across the street from  Smith Plaza.

In the 300 block of High Street, the Empire Hook & Ladder Fire Company will provide roasted chestnuts and other treats. Additional events, including children’s story hours, open houses and activities for children, will be held Fridays, Dec. 7, 14 and 21 and on Saturday, Dec. 8 and 15.

Throughout the holiday season, beginning next Thursday, Dec. 6th,  Steel River Playhouse’s “Annie” will be performed and run through Dec. 22. You can also stop in at ArtFusion 19464 at 254 E. High Street for their winter show, “The Secret Life of Trees”, and to pick up unique gifts.

On Sunday, Dec. 9, the Candlelight Tour of Pottsgrove Manor runs from 2 to 8 p.m., while the Pottstown Holiday Historic House Tour will be from 1 to 6 p.m. A $12 ticket includes a Victorian Tea presented by the Doe Club at the Pottstown Elks from 12noon-2pm.  All homes and buildings on the tour are open from 1pm-6pm.  Free trolley transportation and refreshments for all ticket holders. Tickets are available after Thanksgiving at Carter’s Locksmith Shop, 137 N Hanover Street. $12 in advance, $14 day of tour. For more information contact Sue Krause at (610) 323-2229.

All of these events are sponsored by the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority, Historic Pottstown Neighborhood Association, Pottgrove Manor, Steel River Playhouse, ArtFusion 19464, and individual businesses. BUY LOCAL, PLAY LOCAL, AND CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS LOCAL!

Celebrate 40 years of Christmas with the Coventry Singers!

On December 8th and 9th The Coventry Singers continue to celebrate their 40th Anniversary by performing Christmas favorites. This year’s concerts feature Bach’s Christmas Cantata No. 142 and Finzi’s Magnificat as well as familiar favorites such as Sing We Now of Christmas and Ding Dong Merrily on High. There will also be a carol sing-a-long with the audience.
See details below!
The concerts are free to the public, but free will offerings are accepted.
 
Saturday December 8th at 3:00 pm
St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church
1188 Benjamin Franklin Highway East
Douglassville, PA 19518
 
Sunday December 9th at 4:00 pm
St. James Lutheran Church
1101 East High St.
Pottstown, PA 19464

ArtFusion presents holiday party & holiday show: The Secret Life of Trees

This comes from ArtFusion 19464, a GREAT place to get fun, unique, and beautiful holiday gifts!

Take a peek into the Secret Life of Trees

ArtFusion 19464’s annual holiday show opened November 10 and will be on display in their main gallery through January 5, 2013. The challenge of this show was to interpret the theme of “the secret life of trees.” 38 local artists responded with an amazing breadth of work, from oils and watercolors to recycled sculpture and ceramics. One piece will be awarded a $100 best in show prize, sponsored by Fulton Bank, Pottstown branch. Other show sponsors are: Window Sponsor Dolan& Mayerson, P.C.; NCG, Inc.; Wolf, Baldwin & Associates; and Keller Williams Realty Group.

Participating artists include: Alita Abruzzese, Denise Bennett, Roselyn Cadoff, Mary Chisak, Arline Christ, Richardson Comly, Phillip Compton, Danielle D’Aries, Peter Ehlinger, Cassie Eshelman, Teresa McWilliams Farina, Lisa Foster, Gail Fronheiser, Bob Hakun, Susan Klinger, Mary Kosar, Virginia Gaudiello, Joe Hoover, Millie Lea, Judy Lupas, Ellen Marcus, Charles McCann, Donna Meyers, Geoffrey Meyers, Cari Myford, Harriette Nadler, Beverly Nuzzo, Carol Ross Noyes, Gwendolyn Parrish, Joni Peters, Jackie Pierson, Sue Ploppert, Barbara Rambo, David Ruser, Jodie Scharadin, Dora Siemel, Connie Worth, and Arleen Yeager.

The community is invited to the official opening reception for this show on Friday, December 7 from 5-8pm. This fun event is ArtFusion’s annual holiday party.  Refreshments will be served. That evening is also the perfect chance to start your holiday shopping. Although this event is free, ArtFusion does ask that you RSVP to 610-326-2506

Artist Leigh Ritasse will be creating caricatures during the party as a fundraiser for ArtFusion.  A black and white head and shoulders image is only $20. That evening ArtFusion will also be collecting donations of canned goods for a food drive run by the Pottstown Keystone Chapter 565 of Vietnam Veterans. This food will go to local veterans and their families for the holidays. They are asking for non-perishable items like instant potatoes and stuffing, cranberry sauce, cornbread mix, etc.

ArtFusion 19464 is a 501(c)3 non-profit community art center. The school offers day, evening and weekend classes to all ages. The goal of these classes is to help students develop their creative skills through self-expression and independence. ArtFusion’s gallery hosts rotating shows featuring local artists. The gallery also sells handcrafted, one-of-a-kind gift items.  The gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10am-5pm and Saturday 10am-3pm. The gallery is closed Sunday and Monday.

Anonymous donor to support YWCA Literacy Programs with your help!

A campaign to boost the literacy programming at the Pottstown YWCA began this past week and runs through December 11th. Here’s how it works:

The Mercury and several of their  Town Square bloggers, including Positively Pottstown, are talking about literacy – reading and writing. We’re including this link for our readers to click on. It takes you to a page that looks like the one shown at the bottom of this post. When you type in your valid email address, an anonymous donor will give $1 to the Pottstown YWCA literacy programs. It couldn’t be easier! (And please tell them that Positively Pottstown sent you. :-))

In case it hasn’t been obvious by now, I’m a big fan of reading and writing. I’ve been actively writing short stories, novels, memoir, essays, and poetry since about 1996, and I have been an active reader all my life. I still keep my Nancy Drew collection close at hand.

As a teen I went through, yes, a Harlequin Romance phase – boxes and boxes of them during the summer months when there was a used book store in the North End Shopping Center. You could turn a box in for credit and cart home the next batch. Then there was all that college reading, although that’s all a bit fuzzy now…

As a full-fledged adult, though, I’ve been through a Willa Cather phase, a Jack Kerouac phase, a Dawn Powell phase, and an extended journey through American road trip stories. There are tons of them – fiction and nonfiction. Quite recently, I went on a Flannery O’Connor jag and moseyed through The Complete Stories, a National Book Award winner. If I had to recommend just one story for you to read, it would have to be “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” It is taut and chilling.

What I love best about getting to know an author’s work is that it always seems to lead me to find out more about their own lives. Understanding where they grew up, what their family life was like, and what made them tick as a human being leads to all sorts of fascinating connections and a better understanding of their writing. For instance, Flannery O’Connor’s Catholicism  greatly influenced her work, but she also had some major mother-issues! The mother characters in her stories are usually really irritating and often wind up dead. O’Connor suffered from lupus and lived at home with her mother until her premature death in 1964 at the age of 39.

Well, I could go on and on… the thing is, if you, too, have been touched by some great books, please give others in the Pottstown area the chance to experience the same thrill of seeing a story unfold on the page and in their imaginations. Click here, plug in your email and let that anonymous donor give $1 on your behalf to the Pottstown YWCA’s literacy programs. You will be helping to  write a great big happy ending for this campaign!

 

Pottstown Area Artists’ Guild meeting this Tuesday

The November meeting of the Pottstown Area Artists’ Guild will be held Tuesday, November 20th from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. It will take place in the Boyer Gallery of The Hill School’s Center for the Arts located at Beech and Sheridan Streets in Pottstown. (See directions here.)

After a short business meeting, artist Loretta Gable Englerth  will be demonstrating her techniques in watercolor and other mediums. Loretta is a self-taught artist, born and raised in Chester County.

The meeting is free and open to the public.  You do not have to be an artist to attend. Those simply having an interest in art are welcome. The PAAG was founded in 1960. Its mission is, “to promote, inspire and support the artistic spirit within the community.” If you have any questions, need more information, or need directions, please call Barbara Tschantre, president of the Pottstown Area Artists Guild, at 610-764-7586.

SENIOR FOLLIES! SENIOR FOLLIES! THIS WEEKEND!

Seniors Just Want to Have Fun!

Zany, high energy antics this Saturday and Sunday only

Steel River Playhouse

245 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464

 

“Let’s Start the New Year Right,” according to the members of Steel River Playhouse’s 55+ theater troupe which performs its semi-annual Senior Follies this weekend.  The troupe forecasts 2013 through popular songs, zany and campy antics, and as much laughter as they can generate. 

Basic Information

“Let’s Start the New Year Right” will be performed this Saturday, November 17 at 7PM, and this Sunday, November 18 at 3PM in the Newberry Loft at Steel River Playhouse, 245 E. High St., Pottstown, PA 19464.  Tickets range from $8-$12.  More information and tickets are available on-line at http://www.steelriver.org or by calling 610.970.1199. Tickets are also usually available at the door.

Semi-Annual Public Performances
The Senior Follies troupe performs publicly twice yearly as part of Steel River Playhouse’s education program.  This performance is directed by two veteran performers and directors at Steel River Playhouse, Deborah Stimson-Snow, Artistic Director, and Steve Reazor, Education Director.

“This is part of our education program, so everyone who wants to gets to participate in some way.  We have costumes and music, and, frankly, it’s as much fun putting it on as it is watching it in the audience,” Marta Kiesling, Executive Director, said.  “But the seniors take this opportunity seriously, even if fun and laughs are the objective.  Their energy and enthusiasm is infectious.”

Great for Groups

Laughter truly is contagious.  For performers and audience alike.  Come and share, and bring lots of friends!

 

 

Elvis Tribute Show at Elks Lodge #814 to benefit Mercury’s Operation Holiday

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
On December 1, 2012, BACK BY POPULAR DEMANDAND TO BENEFIT THE MERCURY’S OPERATION HOLIDAY: 
Elvis In Concert Tribute & Dance! Jeff Krick returns to the Pottstown Elks Lodge #814 for this special event.
Tickets only $ 20.00 each. Doors opening at 6:30pm and show time 7:00 – 11:00pm.
For tickets and information contact Tom Coyle at 610-306-9361 or the  Elks at 610-326-3258.
Many saw Jeff as the headlining performer at this year’s 4th of July celebration in Memorial Park.  Hope to see you there for this great cause and fun night!
The Pottstown Elks Lodge #814 is located at 61 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA.
100% of the net proceeds will be donated to The Pottstown Mercury’s “Operation Holiday,” which provides food and gift cards to the less fortunate.
 
 

 

Belle Rouge Salon hosting wine & cheese education evening

Belle Rouge Salon is hosting a night of wine and cheese education. It will be held at their salon at 257 E.High Street this Friday, November 16th from 7-9 pm. There is plenty of parking in the Borough lot across the street, on the corner of High and Charlotte, across from The Farmers’ Market.

Tickets are $25 per person with partial proceeds being donated to the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities. For more info contact Tracy Williams @ 610 326-5400 or bellerougeonhigh@gmail.com.

Grace Lutheran Pre-School hosts Craft Fair this Saturday

Come join Grace Lutheran Preschool for a Vendor/Craft Fair on Saturday, November 10th from 9:00am -2:00pm.

Vendors include: Pampered Chef, Close to My Heart, Two Birds, OneSewn; Autism Speaks, Thirty One, InCare RX, It Works!, Origami Owl, and Silpada Designs.

These are just a few of the vendors that will be at this event.

Food will be available for purchase.

Begin your Christmas shopping early and support the Grace Lutheran Preschool!

 Grace Lutheran Preschool is located at 660 North Charlotte Street in the North End of Pottstown.  There is plenty of free parking in their lot.

 

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑